TERRORISM FINANCE: TURKISH MFA DOWNPLAYS IMPACT OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 005001 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2011 TAGS: KTFN PTER TU SUBJECT: TERRORISM FINANCE: TURKISH MFA DOWNPLAYS IMPACT OF PRO-AL-QADI COURT RULING REF: A. ANKARA 4266 ¶B. RIYADH 6666 ¶C. RIYADH 6729 Classified By: Economic Counselor Thomas Goldberger for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Turkish MFA Deputy Director General for Security Affairs Huseyin Bicakli told us August 29 that the Foreign Ministry and the Finance Ministry would appeal the Danistay (Council of State) July 20 ruling (ref a) that vacated the Council of Ministers decree freezing al-Qadi's assets in Turkey. Bicakli said he was 90% sure the Prime Ministry would join the two other ministries in filing the appeal. He said the court deadline for an appeal was September 4. For now, he confirmed that al-Qadi's assets remain frozen in Turkey. He noted that there were at least two more levels of appeal available. ¶2. (C) Bicakli said the court ruling was based on the merits of the al-Qadi file itself and did not overturn the Government's practice of using Council of Minister decrees to enforce UN 1267 committee designations. Other contacts have contradicted Bicakli on this last point, telling us that the Danistay ruling means that a court decision will be needed from now on to freeze assets. Bicakli, however, was unusually emphatic, and he is both relatively senior and directly responsible for Turkey's compliance with Security Council terrorism resolutions. We will seek additional confirmation of this point. ¶3. (C) Comment: The likelihood of the Prime Ministry adding its weight to the Government,s appeal is notable given the Prime Minister,s favorable comments about al-Qadi as reported in the Turkish press. It would seem to show that Erdogan,s remarks do not reflect official policy and were likely a spontaneous and ill-considered response to the opposition,s use of the al-Qadi issue as a political club against the AKP government. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that Turkey,s hyper-secularist courts -- at knives drawn with the AKP on nearly every issue -- would have colluded with the AKP to release a terrorist financier,s assets. The court,s initial ruling more likely reflects the weakness of Turkey,s legal tools to combat terrorism financing, an issue we are pursuing in many channels. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON